Betterness by Kawika Holbrook

Marathon Training Funk

This morning's run of 11 miles didn't inspire confidence in anything but the fact I feel like I'm going back in time. Kona tagged along at a good clip until she got diarreha and vomited around mile nine. It's back to the vet for another round of expensive, useless tests to figure out why she looks like an anorexic German Shepherd mixed with a coyote.

'm waiting to try the Garmin Forerunner 405 myself rather than decide based on the mixed reviews. If I don't like it, I'll grab a Nano after Apple's June WWDC. Still, my problems don't have to do with the technology.

Ever since I promised myself that I'd train to qualify for the Boston Marathon I've been in a training funk. Late rising and poor eating are two culprits, but slower, shorter, fewer runs each week are the real concern. I don't have the spark I once did.

First and formost, I need to run. Daily. No excuses. Do whatever it takes to get that motivation back.

Bay to Breakers: Sole Food

List of Runners at Bay to Breakers

Gentle Persuasion

Warming Up for Bay to Breakers

How I Don't Stay Organized

1. I procrastinate just enough to go to bed worried every night.
2. I convince myself that the problem lies in something I don't have or use.
3. I sign up for Anxiety, Ta-Da, ZenPages, Sandy, Remember the Milk, 30 Boxes -- whatever the blogorati are chattering about that day.
4. I read websites -- 43 Folders, Lifehacker, Zen Habits, the GTD blogs, and others.
5. I buy books such as Getting Things Done, which I never find time to read.
6. I comment on articles by others who stay organized.

Somehow, though, the most important things scream their way to the top and I deal with them. Still, I often feel as if I'm a hair's breath ahead of the reaper.

Perhaps when Apple releases the iPhone SDK a hundred to-do apps will tumble out and I'll discover one that syncronizes with everything, helps rank tasks based on some analytical or semantic understanding of my inbox and social media accounts, and I'll happily be compelled to get my life in practical, stress-reducing order.

Hahahahahah! Heh. Hmmm.

Kona and the Otter

Yuck

I'll be returning the Nike+ SportBand I bought a few hours ago. WIthout a backlight, it's useless at dusk or dawn, let alone night. The screen itself is small and characters are harder to read than I would have thought. The worst part, however, is that I can't make it launch the Nike+ Utility when I plug it into either USB port of a MacBook or the USB port of a MacBook Air four out five attempts. I ran four miles for 28 or so minutes at the Campbell Community Center track, which is close to my seven minute goal pace for the marathon. But. But but but. It sucked. I can't stand running around in circles. And as I trying to calibrate the SportBand, I had to count each lap, which made the monotony even worse. Less than half an hour and I was done. I'll try again tomorrow with my Nike+iPod setup and bide my time until the Garmin Forerunner 405 comes out.

Cheating

At first glance, this seems like a good run. And it met my requirement of keeping the pace under a seven-minute mile. But I must have stopped a half dozen times. The dog needed to sniff. Or pee. Or investigate. Or go slow. Or take off. Or wait at a stop light. Or change direction to find The Jenny when she needed to use a restroom. Most likely I would have added a half minute to the pace had I not had all the rest breaks. I feel like I cheated. But, as The Jenny said, "Any run is better than not running at all."

Training and Qualifying for the 2009 Boston Marathon

I turned 39 yesterday and ate like a pig at La Fondue. It’s been a week since I ran last. Now it’s time to get back on track, hit the road at least four times a week, and gym at least twice a week, and get my pace under seven minutes a mile no matter how long the training distances. I’m sure there are more specific, scientific ways to prepare for and run August’s San Francisco Marathon or October's Silicon Valley Marathon in less than 3:16, but this is my plan at the moment to qualify for Boston in 2009. First up: an actual run sometime before midnight.